


Fleeting Moment

by rabiosas



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Haly's Circus, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, The Flying Graysons - Freeform, Young Dick Grayson, Young Zatanna, magicians can perform at circuses because i said so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:19:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23443870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rabiosas/pseuds/rabiosas
Summary: As guest performers at Haly's Circus, Zatanna and Zatara visit the Grayson family trailer for dinner. While the adults are busy, Zee and Dick connect with their inner childhood and build a fort. Is that all that happens underneath the blankets, though?
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Zatanna Zatara
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	Fleeting Moment

**Author's Note:**

> This all occurs before the death of the Graysons and Dick becoming Robin. This was originally written and published in 2012 on FFNet.

It was 8 PM when Haly's Circus finally finished their last show for the day. Dick was extremely excited to finally meet Zatara and his daughter Zatanna. They had been guest performers that night, doing the most amazing magic tricks Dick had ever seen in his entire life. (Which was only six years so far, mind you.) Right now Dick was waiting in his family's trailer, jumping up and down on the couch with the occasional backflip. One might think he was a bit too enthusiastic about merely meeting a child, however, Dick never had other children around his age to play with. For Dick, the prospect of meeting a seven-year old was like an early Christmas. The fact that Zatanna was a girl was just a bonus. (However Dick did not like to linger on this thought, as he believed focusing on the fact that he was about to meet a very very pretty girl would only increase his awkwardness levels and diminish his excitement.)

"Dick! Sweetie, calm down you're only meeting a friend!" Mary exclaimed. She walked over to the couch where Dick was jumping, snatched him up, and plopped him back down onto the couch in a seated position.

"Ahhh no need to burst his bubble Mary, he's just excited is all." said John.

At that moment there was a knock on the trailer door. The Zataras were here at last! John immediately went to go open the door for them, with Dick trailing behind him like a little duckling. When he opened the door he was greeted by a tall man with warm brown eyes and a brown mustache. The smile gracing his face brought out the eye whiskers and laugh lines surrounding his eyes and mouth, all which told the signs of a life happily lived. The man was dressed in his elegant magician's garb, complete with a top hat, a bow-tie, and a meticulously wrinkle-free tailcoat. The look was completed with the white gloves adorning his hands and a cane at his side.

"Hello Mr. Grayson," greeted Zatara while holding out his hand.

John shook it. "Nice to meet you, I'm John Grayson and this is Dick, and this is Mary." he said while gesturing to his son and wife.

Mary stepped forward to shake Zatara's hand.

"It's lovely to meet you Mr. Zatara." she greeted.

Dick stood his ground at his father's side and gave Zatara a toothy grin.

Zatara chuckled.

"Please, the pleasure is all mine. Also, you may call me Giovanni if you'd like."

"Giovanni? You wouldn't happen to be Ital- Ah!" John spotted a sudden movement behind Giovanni and immediately realized what- or rather, who- it might be.

"Oh! My apologies, this is my daughter Zatanna." he said, gesturing to a black haired figure who was attempting to conceal itself behind him. That black-haired figure was failing tremendously. She kept peeking out between her father's legs to stare, at what seemed to be Dick. This action was quickly followed by Dick blushing right down to the roots of his hair.

"She is very shy, but only around new faces," Zatara said reassuringly. "Come on Zatanna, why don't you say hello to John and Mary and their son Dick?" he coaxed.

Zatanna shuffled her feet while looking down at the ground before finally stepping in front of the Graysons.

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Grayson. Hi Dick." she whispered.

"Nice to meet you Zatanna!" said Dick. This first meeting wouldn't have gone so embarrassingly if his mouth hadn't betrayed his poor mind. He was so mesmerized by her that before he even realized it, the words were already tumbling out of his mouth:

"Oh and just so you know, I think Zatanna is a very pretty name!" Dick blurted not even seconds after she had humbly greeted him and his parents.

Truthfully, he didn't even know why he said that. Maybe it was to impress her? To get her attention? To get her to actually talk so he could hear more of that mystical, angelic voice? He didn't know, but what he did know was that his heart had never beat this fast before. Even when he was performing his routines on the trapeze with his family, he never felt this level of nervousness. Adrenaline and excitement were the only reasons why his heart beat so intensely during those moments. However, Dick was beginning to get the feeling he preferred the racing heart-rate swinging and flipping hundreds of feet above ground gave him, over the thumping heart against his ribcage that he was getting just standing and looking at Zatanna. There was only one difference between the two; currently, Dick's pumping heart was coupled with the feeling of dancing butterflies in his stomach, something he never felt when he was showing off his acrobatic talents.

After receiving Dick's clumsy compliment, Zatanna was now blushing to no end.

"Thank you." she was speaking at a regular voice level now.

Dick felt very accomplished and was convinced that this would top his list of #1 most important events in his six year-old life. Unfortunately, John ruined the moment by clearing his throat.

"Well, now that we've gotten ourselves acquainted, I believe it is time for Mary and I to go set the table." he said.

"Ah, if you don't mind, I'd like to help in any way I can." said Zatara.

John and Mary glanced at each other before Mary looked over at Zatara.

"Usually I would absolutely refuse to let a guest help. That would be terrible manners! However, given that there is quite a lot of food and there are five of us instead of the usual three, I will graciously accept any help you offer us. Thank you, Giovanni." Mary smiled and gestured for Zatara to follow her and John to the kitchen.

Zatara returned the smiled and nodded. However, before he fully disappeared through the door to the other room he turned around and gave Zatanna a stern glare, as if to say "Don't get into trouble or I might have to pay some bills for these people too!" then he turned around and walked into the kitchen, leaving Zatanna and Dick all alone.

Deciding to break the awkward silence Zatanna asked "Sooo…..what do you like to do?"

"Me? Oh, well I like to do a lot of stuff! Like going on the trapeze and practicing my routines, or visiting the circus animals, or saying hi to all the performers, or helping Grandpa Haly organize the equipment and-" he cut himself off because he could already tell that he was overwhelming her with all of his extracurricular activities.

"But…sometimes when I'm all alone in here, I like to make tents with blankets and then hide inside them! It's really fun." Dick said excitedly.

Zatanna's face lit up at this revelation. "Oooh I like to do that too!...Do you want to make one?" she asked with a tinge of hopefulness in her voice.

"Sure!"

They swiftly began their task of making the tent. Dick attempted to put two pillows against the couch and make them stand straight as these were to be the pillows serving as the base of the tent, however, he was failing horribly. Zatanna giggled at his attempts and then took over, nodding in assurance as if to say "It's okay, I'll take care of it." When she finished adjusting the pillows, they were both perfectly straight…..almost as if they were magically forced to be stiff, because even when a small breeze picked up every time Dick walked past the pillows, they still wouldn't move. After Zatanna worked her magic on the pillows they went and grabbed a giant blanket off of the couch and draped it over the pillows and themselves, engulfing them in darkness.

Zatanna giggled. "Isn't it cool?!"

Dick grinned. "It sure is!"

A heavy blanket of silence followed, with the exception of the Graysons' and Giovanni's muffled conversation coming from the kitchen. Their happy moment was washed over with sudden awkwardness. They just sat there looking around, as if hoping something interesting would happen to break the ice.

Dick was looking around and stopped to catch a glance of Zatanna, but instead he actually found her looking at him. She blushed and immediately whipped her head around. Dick was blushing and he felt the heat burning his cheeks, neck, and ears. Was she really staring at me? he asked himself. But putting those thoughts behind, he actually found himself staring at the back of her head where he got a close up of her glossy, thick black hair. This was in fact a terrible idea because she chose that exact moment to turn back around and look at him. At this point however, they were both staring at each other intently but failed to make eye contact. Dick noticed that she had a puzzled look on her face as if she was trying to decipher something she had just heard, all while her face was getting noticeably closer to his own.

He was beginning to panic: What is she doing! Is she going to whisper to me that some of my hair is sticking out? That my breath sti-MMPH! His thoughts were interrupted by Zatanna gently placing her soft lips over his own. He had no idea how this worked nor why it was happening but he just went with it and didn't argue; he didn't try to fight her nor deepen the kiss or whatever it is you do when you kiss. All of these thoughts went through his head when not even 5 seconds later the protective blanket of their fort was ripped away from above them, sending them into a panic and thus causing their lips to separate.

"Zatanna! What are you doing!?"

Dick looked up to see a fuming Giovanni, completely red in the face, and he swore that if you looked hard enough, you could see steam blowing out through his nose and ears. Standing behind Giovanni, were his parents with their eyes bulging out of their sockets, and looks of disbelief on their faces. They had probably come to tell them to come out and eat. Obviously none of the parents had been expecting this. And Dick would be lying if he said he didn't find it the least bit amusing that Giovanni was the only one raging.

"Ummmm…I don't know…" Zatanna seemed to have no words to describe what had just occurred.

"That is it! We are leaving immediately!" Giovanni said sternly, "Oh umm, Mary and John…please excuse the sudden inconvenience. I need to have a little talk with Zatanna. Once again I am very sorry, and I hope you can forgive me!"

With that, a flustered Giovanni grabbed Zatanna by the hand and forcefully began to tug her along behind him. Dick finally broke from his lovestruck trance while Giovanni dragged Zatanna along. He witnessed her final shameful walk out their trailer door behind her father. When she turned her head around one last time he could've sworn he saw her give him the smallest of winks. When it was clear the Zataras were out of sight he whipped his body around to look at his parents. You could practically see the laughter in their eyes. But, before they could sneak in any kind of comment he earnestly exclaimed

"I swear I didn't plan this!"

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically a what if? situation where I wondered, "hey, the Zataras are trained stage magicians who travel around the world, so who is to say that they've never performed with a circus, specifically Haly's Circus?" This was also written many years ago when my writing abilities were.....not very good haha. So please, if something doesn't make sense it's probably because pre-teen me wasn't paying attention to those things hahaha. However I decided to keep the fic mostly as-is, if only to reminisce and keep track of my personal progress as a writer. xD Has anybody else ever looked back at their old fics and wondered what they were thinking? To close, I hope you are all safe and doing well during this pandemic! <3


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